Month: October 2014

Photo: Any Map Will Do

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Official Maps

A giant wall map of bus routes from the Kempegowda bus station in Bangalore, India. The map may wish you a “happy and comfortable journey”, but it’s not doing you too many favours in helping you plot your route. A spider’s web of lines and hundreds of names cover the wall from floor to ceiling, all in blue and red on a yellow background. Some of the people in this photo seem to have been […]

Photo: Moscow Metro Advertisements

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Advertising

Two Moscow Metro ads from around 2004 or so. The one on the left is pretty average, but the dress in the poster on the right is beyond amazing. The original source of these photos on Flickr seems to think that they’re recruitment ads for Metro staff, and translates the headlines as follows: Left: In the Metro, the Weather’s Good Right: Hit of the Season Source: Esthr/Flickr

Fantasy Map: AWESOME Map!

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Fantasy Maps

A Vignelli-esque fictional map that explores all the different ways we can say “AWESOME!” And it makes a nice little “thumbs up” shape – also awesome! The slightly distressed effect in the printing is also pretty neat. Apparently this was produced for a show that opened here in Portland yesterday, but the link to the event’s Facebook page is broken. If I’m going to be slightly picky with this ever-so-neat design, I’d have to say […]

Historical Map: Tentative Location of Future Rapid Transit Lines, Philadelphia, 1913

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Historical Maps

From A. Merritt Taylor’s Report of Transit Commissioner, City of Philadelphia. At the time, only the current Market-Frankford Line (complete with “Ferry Line” extension at the east end) was operating, so everything else shown here is proposed. Coincidentally, the colour scheme used seems to be almost identical to that used today, although the colours actually indicate immediacy of construction – blue for extant, orange for “immediate construction” and green for “future construction”. Source: 18brumaire/Flickr

Historical Map: Chicago Surface Lines (Streetcar) Transfer Ticket (date unknown)

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Historical Maps

A tiny little map of Chicago with streetcar lines and the underlying street grid printed on the obverse of a transfer ticket. It seems to be mainly used for indicating the time and place that the transfer was issued, rather than for any attempt at navigation of the system. If I’m reading the clock face at the top of the ticket correctly, this transfer was issued at 3:35 (or 7:15) on July 2nd by a […]

Historical Map: MAX Light Rail, Portland, Oregon, 2001

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Historical Maps

Portland’s MAX light rail system as it appeared just after the initial opening of the Red Line. Note that the Red Line doesn’t continue out to Beaverton as it does these days, but turns around just west of downtown. Later, the Yellow Line would turn around here as well, before it was rerouted down the transit mall.  The map itself does a nice job with a relatively simple system. The gracefully curved Willamette River is […]